Automatic speed-controlling clutch.



'UNWED STATES PATET @FhllCE-.

HERMAN BOLINSKI AND MILO SCHMIDT, OF NEVI LONDON, WISCNSIN.

vAUTOMATIC SPEED-CONTROLLING CLUTCH.

eeaoee.

To all whom it 'may concern:

Be it known that we, HERMAN BoLINsKI and MILo Soiiiiurr, citizens of the United States, residinv at New London7 in the county of YVaupaea, State of lVisconsin, have invented a new and useful Automatic trlpeed-Controllingl Clutch, of which the tollowing is a epecilieation. c

lt the object ot the presentinventlon to provide an improved construction ot automatic'speed controlling' clutch, and the invention is directed chietly to a clutch designed tor use on line sbatte, shaite for driving' separators, and so forth,

.lt is one aim or' the invention to provide a clutch ot this class which will be compact ii; its structure and which will be Simple in construction and not be liable to get out ot order.

lt is a further aim ot 'the invention to pro.'ide means whereby the clutch may be so adjusted as to allow it'or rotation of a shaft upon which ity is mounted, at a constant speed and further at any desired constant speed and to hold the parts at adjustment Securely and against accidental disarrangement.

llllith the above and other the invention consiste` in the construction and arrangement ot' parte shown in the aecompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a vertical longitudinal secobjects in view,

tional view through a clutch constructed in accordance with the present invention. Fig. f2 is an end view in elevation of one member ot' the clutch. Fig 3 is a vertical Sectional view on the line 43*-3 ot' Fig. l in a plane at right angles to the plane of the section oit Said Fig. l. r

In the drawings, there is shown a shaft 5 and tixedly Secured upon this shaft is one .member ot the clutch embodying the present invention. This; member of the clutch is indicated in general by the retercnce character A whe vthe. other member is indicated by reference character l?) and the h'rst mentioned member comprises, in part, a head which ie indicated by the numeral G and has an annular beveled clutch face 7. lntegral with this head (3, which, :leide from ite clutch or working .tace 7 ie ot' disk like i'orin, is a sleeve 8 'with which and the Said head is integrally formed a bearing shoulder tl which annular and is located directly inwardly of 'the inner tace of the head i3. set Screw ie-ihrirdcd through this Speccation of Letters Patent. Application filed September 24, 1909.

l l l l l stem portion 1G.

Patented July t9, ittltt. serial No. 519,346.

shoulder 9 and bears against theehatt 5 whereby to hold the clutch member A.. securely upon the shaft :t'or rotation therewith.

l t will be observed from an inspection of Fig. l ot the drawings that the sleeve 8 is of considcralile length and fitted upon the sleeve for sliding' and for tree rotative movement relative thereto is the other member of the clutch which is indicated by the ret'- crcnce cl'iaracter B. rlhis other clutch inember includes a pulley portion l0 and head ll between which two parts .is a groove 12 to receive a strap belt or cable should it be desired to en'iploy one. The head ll is formed alSo with a beveled annular friction tace 'which is indicated by the .numeral '3 and coperatee with the face l 'ol the clutch member A Vtiret described and that portion oit the body ll ot' the clutch member l upon which the tace 'l-3 is tori'xlcd, pro jects laterally beyond the true end oft the Said body so that a concavity lei; atllorded in the end ot the body.

The cei'itritural elemente ot the device are clearly shown in l and L:l of the dra wings and each ot' these elements coneiete of a weighted body portion which is indicated by the numeral l5 and a projeeting;` Upon the inner wall ot' the eoncavity lat in the end oit the body ot the clutch member ll are termed pairs ot ears 17 and pivoted between the ears of each pair as at 18 is; one of the Stems 1G oit' one ot' the centrifugal elements.

lt will be observed that the steun; lo extend radially inwardlyl from the bodice of the centrifugal elemente but that they are offset with respect to the bodies in the. direction of that tace of tie concavily lfl which they are mounted so that the major portion ot the body portion ot each ccntritie gal element is out ot alinei'nent or olt'ect with 'respect to the plane of the pivot tor the Said element. ln other words, the n ijor part of the body portion of each centi real velement lies normally to one side olf line drawn radially from the axis ot' the sha'tt and passiup,` through the pivot for the4 y 'I tive element although it will be uncle stood that when the clutch member Biewrotating at a high speed, the centrifugal elen .will tend to move to position with thei. centers of gravity coincident with the rin lattine are eo ai ngeth a.

pivot for the element. several clutch elements upon f lupper portion 24 into which the sleeve held at the i. jc ',liig. 3 of the drawings,

will be observed. from an inspection of Fig. 1 cf the drawings, that when the elements assume thel position stated or nearly assume such position, the extremities of their stems will have bearing against the bearing shoulderV 9l of the clutch member A. and as the l speed increases, the force of this bearing 'will be correspondingly increased and 4as a Vresult the member B will be slid along the sleeve 8 to bring its clutch face 13 out of contact with the clutch face 7, of the member`A.

A collar 19 is adjustably secured vupon the sleeve 8 ,by a set screw 20 which is threaded vtherethrough and bears against the said sleeve and loosely disposed upon the sleeve is a nut having a polygonal head 21 and/'an ekteriorly threaded sleeve extension 22./ A' weighted or overbalanced head is to be supportedfrom the sleeve and this head hasits body portion indicated by the numeral 23 and is formed with a disk like 1 :e extension 22 of the nut is threaded adjustably, the body 23 of the head being of considerable weight so as to normally depend or assume the position illustrated in Fig. 1 of the drawings. Before proceeding to a specific description of the function of the nut 21 and the head 23 it will be stated at this point that a spring 25 is disposed upon the sleeve 8 and bears at oneend against that end ofthe pulley portion 10 of the clutch member Band at its other end against the face of the polygonal head 21 of the nut, the tension of this springserving to hold the clutch member B normally in coperative engagement with the clutch member A. It will be understood from the foregoing description of this portion of the device that if the head 21 isadjusted with respect to the head 23, the tension of the spring 25 will be. adjusted or varied in view of theV fact that the upper disk like portion of the head rests against the collar 19. and is limited. by this lcollar in its movement toward the extremity of the sleeve. In fact,

it is intended that the nut 21 shall be so adj/usted whereby to vary the tension of the spring and in order that the nut may be desired adjustment, means is provided which Will now be explained.

As illustrated in [Figli of the drawings, the body 23 ofthe'head is of' considerably greater thickness than the upper disk like portion. 2a thereof and a ortion of the body 23thcrefore liesto one si e beyond the plane of the corresponding face of the disk like portion 2-and iii the upper edge of this oil'- set portion of the head is formed a recess or ,seat 26, in which4 is disposed a bowedleaf spring 27, the convex side of the spring being vpresented .uppermostn By referring to it will be observed that this spring 27 bears against one or anventiOn, device has been properly assembled upon the other of the several faces of the polygonal head'21 of the nut and by reason of such engagement with the nut, serves to hold the same iirmly against rotation after having been adjusted to vary ,the tension of the spring. that the weighted body' portion 2t of the head is prevented, by reason of its weight, from rotating with the sleeve 8 and that therefore the nut .21 may be adjusted to vary the tension of device is in full operation. Vhere the shaft .5 is to be rotated latan extremely high rate it is expedient that further means of speed,

be provided for holding the head 23 against turning With the shaft or with the sleeve 8 80 and to this end, an opening 28 is formed in the lower end ofthe body portion'of the head and through it may be secured one end of a cable,`rod, or the like, the other end of which cable "orrod may cent to which the clutch is located.

From the foregoing description of the in-4 it will lbe understood that after the shaft 5, the Ihub 21 is so adjusted as tolsecure the desired number of revolutions of the shaft before the stems of the centrifugal elements will come .into bearinor contact with the shoulder 9 and that should the speed of 95 i rotation of the clutch member B increase to such degree as to tend to cause the shaft 5 to rotate a number of revolutions greater than thev desired number, the engagement of these stems 16 with the shoulder 9 will serve 100 to bring they clutch member B out of cooperativeeontact with the member A.' until the shaft 5 has somewhat slackened in its speed of rotation whereupon the springs 25 will restore the parts to normal position.

It is ofcourse to be understood that the actual area of contact surface between .l the stems 16 and the shoulder 9 will be so'small as to insure against rotation of the member A with-the memberA B after the clutch faces .of the two members have become separated.

What is claimed is 1. In a device ofthe class described, a clutch member having a. sleeve adaptedto be secured upon a shaft, a clutchmember slidi ably fittedupon the 4saidvsleeve, a spring the sleeve holding the last mentioned member normally in contact wili tie a e euponv clutch first mentioned member, centrifu ments carried by the last mentione clutch.

member and adapted to have bearing against the first mentioned member to force the second mentioned memberout of contactwith the iirst mentionedmember a ainst the tension`- of the spring, a collar sleeve, a nut rotatable upon the sleeve, and 'a weighted head into which the nut isthreaded, said nut being adjustable to adjust the tension of the sprin 2. In a device ofthe class described, a 130 It will of course be understood 70 the spring while the 75 be secured to the 85 floor or ceiling or other rigid support adja- Xed upon the secured upon a Shaft, a

eeaoee clutch member having a sleeve adapted to be secured upon a shaf a clutch member Slidably fitted upon the said sleeve, 'a spring upon the sleeve holding the last mentioned clutch member normally in Contact with the first mentioned member, centrifugal elelast mentioned clutch the first mentioned member ao'ainst the tension of the spring, a collar fixed upon the sleeve, a nut rotatable upon the sleeve, the said spring having bearingagainst the nut, a. head into which the nutis threaded, the nut being adjustable with respect to the head whereby to vary the tension of the spring, and means carried by the head and cooperating with the nut to prevent rotation thereof.

3. ln a device of the class described, a clutch member having a sleeve adapted to be cluteh member slid ably fitted upon the said Sleeve, a spring upon the sleeve holding the'last mentioned clutch member normally in Contact With the first mentioned member, centrifugal elemente carried by the last mentioned clutch member and adapted to have bearing against the first mentioned member to force the second mentioned member out of Contact With the first mentioned member against the tension of the spring, a Collar fixed vupon the sleeve, a nut rotatable upon the sleeve, the said Spring having bearing against the nut, a head into which the nut is threaded, the

nut being adjustable with respect to the head whereby to vary the tension of the spring, and a spring carried by the head and earing against the faces of the nut Where by to prevent :rotation thereof.

4. In. a device of the deecribed, a clutch member having a Sleeve adapted to e secured upon a shaft, 'the clutch member hrw/ingl a f fontinnons bearing; slionl ders a clutch member siidablyiitted upon the Said Sleeve7 a sprii'ig upon the sleeve holding the last mentioned clutch member normally in contact with the lirst mentioned member, and centrifugal elements pivoted to the 5seeond mentioned olut i and having weighted body portions normay eut of alinement radially with respect to 'the pivot for the elements and portions ad; l l to have bearing against 'the bearing Sho r upon the first mentioned chiteb. member whereby when the body portion movee into euch alinement, the said elements will. have bearing againet the Said Shoulder upon the tiret iaientioned member whereby to it? the eeoond mentioned member ont of conta( with the first mene tioned member '.Ast the tension of the spring.

ln testimony as our own, we i. natu res in the pi W i tnesses linNai' Gomme7 JOHN Gown; 

